School Supply Stores

Written by Sierra Rein

Most traditional school supply stores are designed for the practical tools of education, meaning pencils, calculators, pads of paper, and computer accessories meant for student use. However, other supply stores exist with another agenda on their plates; mainly, supplies for the educators and teachers themselves. These can include history and science books, visual aids for solving math problems and teaching how to tell time, audio language tapes, educational games, and a number of fun but athletic sporting goods items.

Finding the Best School Supply Store

If you are a teacher, choosing from all these school supplies and teaching tools for your curriculum is an incredibly important task. Most educational supply stores know how to divide their products by age range, subject, specialty and genre. An experienced store owner will also be able to help you develop after-school activities, arts and craft projects, and other creative endeavors for growing minds. It is a good idea to do your research ahead of time, preferably during the summer months before school starts, to become acquainted with all the possibilities available to you.

School supply stores are also great resources for fundraising ideas and wholesale items to be resold for a profit. For example, a principal could invest some of the school's budget towards buying a few hundred decorative time teaching watches at wholesale price and give them to students and their parents to sell to friends, coworkers, and other family members. Once the watches are all resold at a higher price than the original retail price, the school can refill its budget and make a profit for school events and class field trips. Many educational stores also promise that a large percentage of their proceeds will be given to wildlife conservation groups, hospitals, and other worthy causes. This is a great incentive if school boards and teachers are looking for a more constructive supply company to become affiliated with.

The items that challenge school supply stores the most are those meant for students who are in a home-schooling program. Whether they are books, activity pamphlets, testing booklets, videos or the aforementioned time teaching watches, these items must be carefully designed to allow parents or part-time visiting educators to use them. Home schooling items are usually effective as regular schooling tools, or for children who need a little added extra help with their daily lessons.